Bridgetown: Indian bowlers failed to seize the initiative garnered during the first session as West Indies reached 108 for three at tea on the final day as the second Test at Kensingtin Oval looks like heading towards a dull draw.
Chasing a target of 281, West Indies who looked to be in deep trouble at 55 for three when Ishant Sharma removed Adrian Barath (27) were bailed out by a dogged 53 run partnership for the fourth wicket by Darren Bravo (45 batting) and Shivanarine Chanderpaul (12 batting).
The West Indies added only 57 runs in the session with Chanderpaul intent on blocking anything and everything that came his way. He consumed 83 balls in the process frustrating the Indian bowlers.
Bravo also showed lot of maturity as the two looked more intent on ensuring a draw rather than enforcing a result.
Save Ishant (2/28), none of the other Indian bowlers were impressive in the post-lunch session when they looked like going through the motion. The disappointing aspect was seniormost bowler Harbhajan Singh’s inability to provide the decisive breakthrough. Harbhajan got appeciable bounce but couldn’t produce the desired results.
Earlier, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s calculative risk helped his pacers reduce West Indies to 51 for two at lunch on the final day of the second Test match chasing a victory target of 281 from 83 overs.
Resuming at 229 for three, the Indians declared their second essay at 269 for six with VVS Laxman emerging as the top-scorer with 87 runs. He hit eight boundaries but was unlucky to miss out on another Test match hundred.
Dhoni’s sporting declaration gave his bowlers enough chance to get 10 West Indies wickets.
His new ball bowlers Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar responded nicely to their captain’s call removing Lendl Simons (14) and an out-of-form Ramnaresh Sarwan (8) during the opening session leaving the home team to score another 230 runs from 67 overs.
The best part about Dhoni’s captaincy was the timing of declaration. The target is such that any team would be tempted to chase.
Simmons pushed at a fuller delivery from Ishant offering a simple catch to Rahul Dravid in the first slip. Sarwan who is in danger of losing his Test spot hit a boundary but tried to cut a Praveen delivery when he wasn’t offered any room.
The resultant slash was taken by Suresh Raina in the thrid slip reducing West Indies to 27 for two. (PTI)